Moondrop golden ages.
Planar drivers imaging is really good

Not all moondrop is amazing.
Some are hit and miss. Though recently it’s more hit than misses.

And no. In terms of convenience (for use with iOS) and noise cancelling/transparency, air pods pro is better.

But the moondrop golden ages is a planar iem which is quite a special feature. I personally feel the detail/ technicality is better than air pods pro.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: May 13 2024, 09:38 PM

I’m using this with Spotify on my iPhone, so nope…. I don’t think you need ldac to tell the difference.

Just take note planar iem tend to be a bit weaker on the bass.

In terms of factor that can affect the quality of the “song”
Mastering of a song >> lossless vs lossy > type of lossless audio coding technology

This post has been edited by LegendLee: May 13 2024, 10:05 PM

I was assuming we are talking about wireless iem.
Hence my recommendation on the golden ages.

Aria is still good.
But everyone is waiting for the dusk.
I did try it a couple of months back and it’s pretty good.
But these days I can’t really see myself spending this much money on wired iem anymore.

Not when 90% of the time I use wireless iem. And for the remaining 10%, wired iem is only used for teams meeting.

Golden ages has better imaging and arguably detail.
Aria had more bass and a more fun V shaped tuning.

If you want to stick to wired at the budget, I personally recommend the truthear Hexa. I do have that, though it’s quite a waste that I only use it for teams call these days.

4 hours and the case being able to charge it several times.
Battery is nothing to write home about as you need more power to drive planar iems.

The case is also pretty large. I think they reuse nekocake design.